A Troubled Memory
by ss3ethan
Summary: "Ok, coming to see a play has got me trying to get a Princess to a completely different kingdom with a bunch of lunatics, I must be drunk of my arse." Self inserts in Final Fantasy IX, R&R thanks.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys, I've had this fic in mind for a while now and I have yet to publish anything to my favorite game series Final Fantasy, so here is 'A Troubled Memory'. Remember to review if you like it.**

Chapter 1: Arrival to Alexandria.

"Phew, finally made it."

A young 15 year old male had just made it to the Alexandrian gates to come see the play that is going on tonight. The male had short black hair, a black coat, black pants, brown leather boots and a sheathed katana strapped to his back, the sheath was a sparkling white color.

The young man had reached the gates when he was approached by an Alexandrian soldier. "Halt, what is your business here?"

The male smiled when he replied, "Here to see the play, heard the performers are really something."

"Alright then, we'll let you in, but if you unsheathe that sword of yours, we will have to take you in."

"No worries, shouldn't need to anyways." The young male entered the town and had a look around. "_Wow, this is a nice place, but Lindblum is still better." _He made his way to the tavern when he saw the nobles of Treno making their way towards the castle. "_Damn Treno nobles, they think they're all high and mighty, leaving the poor kids to rot, someone needs to do something about that." _He had entered the bar, and had a look around, nearly everything had the wooden brown color and the only people there were himself, a red mage and the barkeeper. "Hey barkeep, you got any decent bread back there?" He asked as he had sat down on a stool.

The barkeeper turned around, "Yeah we do actually, you want a loaf?"

"Make it 2 loaves and get me a bottle of ale, not the best and not the worst thanks."

"No worries, I'll just get that for you." The barkeep had gonee behind the counter to the storage.

"So, a ninja huh?" The red mage had started the conversation.

"Yeah, took up the katana when I was 12, started learning ninjitsu at the age of 13, never looked back."

"Never looking back is the sign of a true warrior, so what blade do you have there?"

"Just a rusty iron katana I made myself, blacksmiths were charging heaps for a weak blade so I put my own smithing skills to the test, it's weak but it does the job."

Just then, the barkeep had come out from behind the counter with a bag. "Alright bud, that'll be 50 gil."

The young male reached into his pocket and pulled out 5 coins, each worth 10 gil. "Here you go, I'll probably be back after the play." He took the bag which contained the two loaves and the bottle of ale and left the tavern, but not before saying, "Thanks for the conversation, it was fun talking to you," to the red mage.

"Likewise."

He had gone to the center-point of town and headed to where tickets were being stamped, he saw a kid wearing a blue coat and a brown steepled hat walk away, looking sad. "What happened to the kid?" He decided to ask the ticket master what happened.

"His ticket was a fake, there are so many of them, I lost count of how many I have seen." The ticket master tried remembering.

"Which means mine could be a fake, oh well, worth a shot." He placed his ticket on the counter.

"Hmm, let's see here..." The ticket master examined the ticket closely. "It's fake, sorry bud."

"No worries, I'll just catch it from the rooftops, thanks anyway." He had walked into the alley. "_Gotta find a good spot on the rooftop, I might help that kid out too, he looked like he really wanted to see the play._" He had entered to find the kid and what looked to be a rat wearing orange clothes.

"Hey, you! You had a phony ticket too didn't you?" The rat kid asked, looking sharply at the young male.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" He had answered back with a sharp glare. "_This kid has no manners, what-so-ever._"

"As I was just saying to this kid, I'll help you get in if you be my slave." The young man had a face of shock at the word 'slave'. "So, whaddya say?"

"Alright then, but let's hurry, play starts in 20 minutes." The young male walked past them as the rat kid picked up a ladder and the other kid followed behind. They all walked into a steeple which had a fairly long ladder up.

"It's up here, but it's dangerous, one of you go first." The rat kid stood to the side.

"I-I'll do it." The kid with the steepled hat walked to the ladder and was about to climb, until something landed on his head.

"Holy hell, what was that?" The young man ran over to check if the kid was ok. "You alright kid?"

The moogle had long moved to the opposite side of the rat kid. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

"That's Kupo, he's a moogle." The rat kid introduced us as Kupo said "Kupo!" in agreeement. "And these here are my two slaves, try to get along alright?"

"Come on, let's hurry, we don't have much time." The man climbed up the ladder as quickly as possible while the rat kid and the hat kid followed closely behind. "Alright, across the rooftops now." The young man ran across the rooftop as quickly as possible.

"Wait, the other guy looks like he's afraid of heights." The rat kid had to slow down the young man.

"For Bahamut's sake!" The young man had ran back over, picked up both kids and the ladder and ran back to where they needed to place the ladder. He placed it down and started running into the castle. "Hurry up, it's about to start!"

"Hold on a second, we don't even know each other's names." The rat kid brought up. "I'm Puck."

"Name's Alexander, just call me Alex." The young man introduced himself.

"I-I'm Vivi" The kid with the coat and hat introduced himself while stuttering slightly.

"Ok, NOW we can go." Alex ran into the castle and found a spot at the back while Puck and Vivi followed closely behind.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm writing this chapter straight after publishing the first one, my update schedule will be all over the place, so check regularly to find updates, don't forget to review.**

Chapter 2: The play that started it all.

The play had started and began with 4 people fighting against 3 others, one of the bad guys seemed to be the leader and wielded a large sword. "_Yikes! Wouldn't wanna get on his bad side._" Alex watched on and soon after, the 2 little bad guys had ran away, leaving the leader to go up a staircase to take his leave as well.

"Thou have not seen the last of me Marcus!' He shouted before walking away.

"Get back here!" One of the actors whom was blonde shouted before running for the staircase before getting blocked off by a man with red hair. "Out of the way Blank! The blonde shouted before slashing at the red head who jumped out of the way.

"Consider this Zidane, if Prince Shneider and Princess Cornelia were to get married, peace would reign over both their kingdoms. Blank explained.

"'Tis follishness, if it were so easy, why none would suffer in this world." Zidane said before chasing after Blank before getting into a heated sword fight.

"Whoa, damn they're good at this." Alex said to himself.

"I know, they must be used to real battles as well." Puck said as he watched with an excited face.

The sword fight finally finished with Zidane and Blank running into Alexandria castle. "_Now hold on a second, why are they running into there?_" Alex thought to himself. "_Meh, whatever._"

It had been a while since the sword fight, and the leader of the bad guys from earlier, who Alex and co. now know as King Leo, was on stage laughing to himself about his plan for Cornerlia and Shneider's marriage. Then Marcus came on stage, being held back by Leo's goons from before and Leo had said his plans out for executing Marcus. Just as Leo was about to begin, the blonde from before and a girl wearing a white robe came on stage from an elevator under the stage, shortly followed by a knight in rusty armor. There was a bit of whispering going on on stage before the play continued, the white hooded girl was supposedly Princess Cornelia and the knight was Prince Schneider, however it looked like the knight was not even meant to be a part of the play.

A bit more dialogue before Marcus went to stab Leo, but Cornelia got in the way, Alex and co. were hit by sadness so hard, they barely noticed Marcus killing himself in sadness. "Holy hell, they've nearly got me crying. Alex said, trying to hold back tears.

"Yeah, so sad." Vivi said before adjusting hid hat a little bit.

"Guards! I am so outta here!' Puck shouted before running off.

"Wait, what?" Alex looked behind him when he saw 2 guards coming towards him and Vivi. "Shit! Run Vivi!" Alex shouter before leading Vivi onto the stage.

"Leave me alone!" Vivi shouted before jumping over the white hooded girl. "Don't come any closer!" Vivi held his hands out in defense and shot out a burst of flames which set the girls hood on fire, making her jump and throw it off.

"Zidane, it's time!" King Leo said before walking off.

"Princess Garnet, let's get out of here!" Zidane said.

"What... What is going on!" The knight looked around in confusion.

"Steiner, don't follow me anymore!" The princess said to the knight.

"Captain, sir! We await your orders, sir!" One of the knights said.

"Hmmm... Well... Umm... Errr..." Steiner was looking around in confusion, trying to think of an order. "Princess! I'm afraid I cannot comply!" The knight shouted.

"Stubborn as always aren't you?" The princess said to Steiner.

"And disobedient," Alex piped in, "If the princess gives you an order, aren't you supposed to follow it, not go against it?"

"That is true, but the princess is trying to leave the kingdom, I cannot allow that!" The knight said to Alex.

"Hey kid, you ok?" Zidane asked Vivi who was on the ground.

"Y-Yeah, I just tripped, that's all..." Vivi said.

"Princess, I cannot allow you to go! Seize them at once!" Steiner shouted at us and the knights.

"Finally, a fight!" Alex said before unsheathing his katana, it had a rusty metal blade and had bits of dry blood on it. "Fire Wave!" Alex shouted before swinging his sword horizontally towards the three knights, as he did, a wave of fire erupted from the blade and hit all 3 knights.

"Sorry captain, but I'm out of here!" One of the knights said before leaving.

"Me too, I'm gonna be late for my date!" The other shouted before leaving.

"Wait, what!" Steiner shouted at them while turning around.

"Impaling Blizzard!" Alex stuck his katana into Steiner's back while it was covered in ice.

"Bah!" Steiner shouted, "Only a flesh wound!"

Just then, the theatre ship started moving, Steiner was confused while Zidane tried to get everyone inside, and the queen of Alexandria statred firing harpoons at the ship, but none slowed it down, but then they fired a bomb at us.

"OH FUCK, A BOMB!" Alex shouted before jumping at it. "IMPALING BLIZZARD!" He stuck his katana into the bomb and as he did, it exploded, sending Alex flying back first into the stage, knicking him out as the ship crashed into a forest.

3 hours later, Alex woke up in a room with 3 beds, two of them bunked together and one singular, Vivi was on the singular one, asleep. Alex stood up and headed out the door to see Zidane talking to Blank.

"Sheez... Why do you always gotta play hero? The boss is gonna kill you." Blank said with a serious expression on his face (Well, as serious as it can get anyway).

"What's going on?" Alex asked as he walked over to them.

"I'm going to take Vivi and sir rustalot to find the princess, you can come to if you like, but I gotta talk to the boss first." Zidane explained.

"Sure, I'll come, but for now I'll go scouting in the forest." Alex said before making his way out of the ship into a forest. "_Evil forest? You've got to be kidding me!_" Alex thought to himself before noticing Cinna, one of the good guys from the play. "Hey!" Alex said to him.

"Oh hey, you're that guy who tried to stop the bomb, nice try there." Cinna said.

"I figured it was worth a shot, it was either that or let it blow the ship up."

"Good point there, so what are you doing out here?"

"About to go scouting in the forest, try to find the princess."

"I can sell you some supplies if you like."

"Sell?"

"We can only give supplies to members of Tantalus, and you're not so sorry."

"Don't worry about it, just give me a few potions." Alex pulled out 500 gil to pay for it all.

"Here ya go, take care in there!" Cinna said as he handed Alex a bag with the 4 potions in it.

"I'll try." Alex took the bag and placed it in his back pack before heading into the forest.

1 An hour later, and Zidane, Vivi and Steiner were at the magic spring when Alex came back to them. "There you guys are, what took ya?" Alex asked.

"Master Vivi and I were discussing our new ability, based on your power to enchant your sword with an element." Steiner explained.

"It's just basic ninjitsu, all ninja's learn it in their first year of training, then again, the first year is the only year, after that it's training on your own." Alex explained to them.

"You're a ninja? There are hardly any left." Steiner said.

"That's because being a white mage and a knight are all the rage these days for adventurers, I just took up the katana then found out that it was the weapon of a ninja, so I took that up." Alex explained.

"so Alex, did you find her?" Zidane asked after taking a drink.

"I did, but the thing holding her is massive, so I didn't attempt fighting it." Alex said.

"Actually, Sir Alex, I have something I wish to ask of you for this monster we are going to fight." Steiner said before whispering something to Alex.

"Alright then, that could work. We'll give it a shot." Alex said. "Come on, let's go." Alex led them to the lair and ran in.

"There she is!" Vivi shouted before pulling his staff out.

"So this is the master." Zidane said before pulling his 2 daggers out.

"Princess! You stay out of this! Alexandria would be disgraced if a mere bandit should rescue the princess." Steiner said.

"You think you can take him on your own?" Zidane asked. Steiner's silence was a good enough answer. "Let's get him Vivi!"

Alex charged foward and made 2 slashes at one of the monsters tentacles but it did not come off. "Damn this thing has good defense."

Steiner charged at another tentacle and made a powerful slash at it, again, it didn't come off. "How is this happening? Master Vivi, fire sword, now!" Steiner brought his blade up as Vivi enchanted it so it glowed with fire and Steiner brought it down, burning the monster.

We kept on fighting it until it sprayed pollen in there eyes, but at that point, Blank entered and cured us all. "Steiner, the technique, now!" Alex shouted before charging behind the creature.

"Right!" Steiner shouted and charged at the front of the creature. Alex made 2 slashes with his sword and Steiner made one. "Cross Slash!" They both shouted in unison as they slashed at the same time, killing the creature.

"Wow, that worked perfectly!" Alex said before running over to the princess and cutting her free of the vines holding her up and Steiner caught her.

"Princess! Please get a hold of yourself!" Steiner tried waking her up.

"Zidane, give her the stuff." Blank told Zidane as he walked foward pulling out a purple vial, he gave it to Garnet who started drinking, she drank a little bit and started coughing.

"Princess, please try to drink all of it." Steiner told her.

"!" Alex was suddenly alarmed when he felt a disturbing prescence. "Guys! Get out of here! Now!" He unsheathed his katana and hung to a wall. "HURRY!"

"Alex, what's goi-" Zidane tried to ask before a sudden quake happened and some plant spiders started coming out of where the plant creature was. "Oh crap, leave now!" Zidane told them and started leaving with everyone.

"Alright, I'll hold them off, you guys go!" Alex said, ready to face them.

"Oh no you don't." Blank said standing infront of him, handing him a map. "You get out of here, the forest will turn to stone soon, and I won't be able to make it, I'll hold them off for as long as I can!"

"Blank!" Zidane shouted.

"Zidane! Just go!" Blank pulled out his sword and started killing some spiders.

"Come on Zidane! Everyone's already ahead!" Alex shout before running off, Zidane followed shortly after.

As they ran, they noticed a lot of vines chasing them and the forest turning to stone behind them. "FUCK! Dodge them as best as you can Zidane!" Alex shouted before staying behind to cut some of them away.

After he cut a few away, the stone was starting to travel faster. "Shit!" Alex shouted before running as fast as he can to reach the outside, he could see it but the vines were coming fast, he had to use the best of his dodging abilities to make it out alive. He stood up and looked at the forest to see the vines snaking around the trees and turn it to stone.

"Dammit! That idiot!" Zidane was bashing on the stoned trees. "Blank..." We all headed back to a clearing and started setting up camp.

"I hope she gets well soon..." Vivi was worried about the princess.

"This is all his fault!" Steiner shouted at Zidane.

"How so Steiner?" Alex asked.

"If him and his band hadn't abducted the princess, none of this would've happened." Steiner explained.

"Steiner..." The princess was awake at last. "I left the castle of my own will."

"What a coincidence, eh? We went to snatch her, and she wanted to be snatched." Zidane explained before chuckling a little bit.

"Impossible!" Steiner said.

"Nothing's impossible Steiner, just very unlikely to happen, still possible." Alex piped in. "That's what we said back at the ninja academy."

"So what do you say, Rusty? Firends?" Alex chuckled when Zidane called Steiner rusty. "Come on, let's just enjoy this camping trip while it lasts."

"Camping-you impecile! Surely even you must know something about the mist. The vicious monsters it spawns! The abnormalities it stirs in the mind and body! Princess, we must leave this dangerous place at once." Steiner said.

"Don't be so hasty Steiner, she hasn't even fully recovered, besides we'll need a plan to get back abover the mist, north and south gate are shut off and the only way above is through the Ice Cavern just south of us." Alex explained.

"How do you know all of this?" Steiner asked, staring in awe at Alex's knowledge of the continent.

"Ever since my first year at ninja academy, I have been training my mind and body by travelling all around the continent, this in turn increased my knowledge of minor landmarks like the cavern." Alex explained.

"Alright then, we set off for the Ice cavern tomorrow, Rusty, you can keep guard of the tent where the princess will be sleeping, the rest of us will sleep out by the fire." Zidane explained before going to sleep.

The next morning, Alex was already awake, because of the sudden ambush of Mu's, however they were easily dealt with. After that, Zidane had approached Alex. "Hey Alex, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." Alex sheathed his katana.

"That technique you and Steiner pulled of on the monster yesterday, is that what he was whispering to you?"

"Yeah, and actually, I did a little bit of planning and come up with a team move of our own, bring it in." Zidane got closer to Alex as he started whispering.

"That can work easily, what do you say we try it on the next pack of Mu's?" Zidane asked.

"Alright then, but for now, we better check on the others."

"Agreed" They both started walking back to camp.


End file.
